The present invention relates generally to the data processing field, and more particularly, relates to a method and apparatus for adding captions to photographs.
Currently in the market, cameras are available which have a built-in mechanism that creates an image on photographs of the date and/or time. The date and/or time are imprinted on the negative itself and show when the photograph was taken. A problem is that this is only a small amount of information. There is no other identifying information on the exposure except for the image itself along with the date and/or time.
A need exists for a method and apparatus for adding captions to photographs. It is desirable to provide captions to be imprinted on the film and photograph in a manner that is easy for a user to use. As used in the following specification and claims, the term caption means user defined information to be imprinted on film. A need exists for a method and apparatus for adding captions to photographs that enables a user to provide custom captions to be imprinted on film when a picture is being taken.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for adding captions to photographs. Other important objects of the present invention are to provide such method and apparatus for adding captions to photographs substantially without negative effect and that overcome many of the disadvantages of prior art arrangements.
In brief, a method and apparatus are provided for adding captions to photographs. An apparatus for adding captions to photographs includes a medium for storing a photograph image. A microphone is provided for receiving user spoken words. A voice recognition system is coupled to the microphone for generating text unit instructions. A caption generation unit is coupled to the voice recognition system for storing a caption with the photograph image on the medium.
In accordance with features of the invention, a film camera system and a digital camera system are used for adding captions to photographs. In the film camera system, the caption is simultaneously stored with the photograph image on photographic film. In the digital camera system, the caption can be simultaneously stored with the photograph image on digital storage medium or can be added at an earlier time or a later time.